Double life of a showbiz priest
- Published: 17 September 2007
Fr Michael Cleary was one of the greatest communicators the Catholic
Church in Ireland has known, a man who could reach out to young people
in a unique manner, the epitome of a young person's priest. He
chain-smoked and told slightly racy jokes about nuns. He was favoured
by the Church for one very specific reason: no matter how informal and
even risque his delivery, his message was the same: that the Church's
laws must be obeyed. But the gap between what he preached and what he
practised was incredible - David McKittrick